In 2000, the Grace Design model 101 microphone preamp helped fuel a revolution. When people took professional recording into their own hands, it was there with all of the quality and performance of a high-end mic preamplifier, but with a price that made it available to the masses. Eight years later, and the cause moves forward with the newly redesigned m101 preamp.

The m101 is equipped with a redesigned universal switching power supply that's dead quiet and accepts input voltages from 100 to 240V AC. The front panel is a tough black anodized/laser etched black, which ensures legibility and usability in varying light conditions. And all preamp functions have a dedicated indicator LED, including the 48V phantom power and HPF switch.

The gain range is 10-75dB, including the additional +10dB of gain available with the output trim control. This provides ample gain for use of any type of microphone in any recording situation. The gain control is a precision gold-plated, 12-position switch, and the circuit path is built with 0.5% metal film resistors.

Included is a HI-Z input on the front panel. Rear panel I/O options include both balanced TRS and unbalanced TS 1/4" outputs, along with the standard XLR balanced out and XLR microphone in.

Equally at home amplifying a vintage condenser mic or a plugged-in acoustic guitar, the m101 delivers the kind of high fidelity performance previously available only to big budget recording studios and Grammy winning musicians. Add it all up while considering that the price is unmatched and the picture becomes pretty clear - the m101 is one little hot rod piece of pro audio gear for everyone from home recording enthusiast to top professional.

Note: For a truly outstanding sound and value, we suggest using the Grace m1011 with the CAD e300 condenser mic (see (#271261) for amazingly clear and detailed, yet warm-sounding vocals.

If you really want to know what your mics sound like, I recommend the Grace m101. It is the cleanest, most transparent preamp I have ever heard. It does not color like a Neve, API, SSL, Universal Audio, or Focusrite. It the only preamp I have heard actually get out of the way.

I just recived the Grace a week ago and already I can see an improvement when using it in the audio chain of my home studio. I only gave it an 8 rating because I haven't really had time to use it in a project yet. But while getting use to it with a new microphone that I also purchased, (the MicTek CV4) it has already performed beautifully on guitar/vocal demos that I have created. It produces a really clean, smooth sound in my recordings. I don't think you will be dissapointed in the sound it gets for the price range of this item. As a matter of fact I feel that it can give the higher price pre-amps a run for their money;

This review is going to read like a press release from Grace Design, but I swear I have nothing to do with the company. Anyhow. Holy cow. This thing is awesome. It was a good value before the new model came out but now they have added an unbalanced out and a ribbon button. Also the wall wart is gone now. If you need a good clean low-noise preamp you are looking in the right place. Everything works perfectly, there is absolutely no noise even with space heaters nearby, and it's a nice rock solid build too. I cannot recommend this device more highly.